In the coming weeks, it will be the Commission's role to help the Council and the European parliament find an agreement for the 2014-2020 financial period. And Europe does need that agreement. We must ensure that future EU budgets will help Europe's businesses, scientists, students and NGOs.

The gap between what member states are asking the EU to do and what they are willing to pay for is unsustainable. Either they dial down their demands or provide the institutions with realistic means.

It makes no sense to vote on a budget for the next seven years when the context is likely to have changed dramatically. Even the Soviet Union only planned five years ahead. Rather than being tied down to a seven year austerity budget, there should be a binding review around 2015 which would allow the next democratically elected European Parliament to have its say.

The agreement on the EU budget for 2014-20 marks a political success for the bloc's spending hawks--and in particular for the British government, which going into the European Council on February 7th-8th had adopted the most hard-line position.

As our political leaders strut their stuff on their home turf about how successful they were in Brussels last week, you'll never know the truth on who voted to increase, stagnate or decrease the EU's decision on plans to cut the EU budget because it will never be published.

David Cameron has challenged Ed Miliband over whether Labour MEPs will vote against a cut in the EU Budget, amid fears the European Parliament may vet...

It is the same old budget as before, nothing new or modern about it. Farming and structural funds are the name of the game. It is like the EU's leaders have lazily gone to the fridge, rummaged around for the same old budget they've been serving up for the last 50 years, warmed it up a bit and whacked it on a plate. Bon appétit, Europe.

On Friday, the member states reached agreement on a funding settlement that will shape the EU in years to come. There are many things that we can we welcome in the deal that was announced earlier. But there are a number of issues that are of concern.

The five things you need to know on Friday 8 February 2013... 1) 'MISERY AND HARDSHIP' So the real villain of the row over disability and incapa...

David Cameron arrived in Brussels for marathon EU budget talks this afternoon insisting the negotiations were "going to be difficult" but a deal was "...

The ten things you need to know on Thursday 7 February 2013... 1) EBACC-TRACKED Oh look, yet another dramatic and embarrassing coalition U-turn ...

The multi-annual financial framework is not just a budget, but rather a political act, an expression of Europe's ambitions by which we commit to financing common policies and projects that are of mutual benefit. This is more, not less, relevant in times of hardship and economic crisis.

Posturing over a referendum on Britain's EU membership is the political order of the day, and accusations of Euro-human-rights-madness-keeping-murderers-and-rapists-on-our-streets abound: euro-scepticism is having a moment. MEP bashing up, Europhilia down.

The European Parliament is limbering up for what promises to be an exciting but challenging year. The crisis continues to rumble on, but efforts to put Europe back on the path to growth will not be the only initiative to make a difference to your daily life.

When did it become such a shameful thing to be pro-European and proud in this country? Why do politicians who sing the praises of Britain's membership of the EU in private, retreat in to the shadows in public? Why do the most vocal defenders of Europe's greatest ever achievement warn only of the dangers of withdrawal rather than share their vision of a united and prosperous union with Britain at its heart?

Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, seems a bit sad. In the wake of his failure to persuade EU leaders to agree to a budget, the...

Conservative eurosceptics and Labour tacticians should beware. British hostility to the European Union is not as simple or complete as some of them think.

Tony Blair will warn this week that Britain's future prosperity relies on the country remaining a committed member of a strong European Union. Amid...

David Cameron faces more months of tough negotiations as he tries to secure a seven-year freeze in the European Union budget after this week's summit ...

The European Union Budget summit has ended in failure after leaders were unable to come to an agreement on future spending. David Cameron said the ...

Boris Johnson has told David Cameron to "whirl his handbag round his head" when he travels to Brussels this week to discuss the EU budget. Or in plain...

Britain must take a "hard-headed" approach to the problems facing the EU, Ed Miliband said as he sought to pile pressure on David Cameron ahead of a c...